Shareholders at Japanese drug giant Takeda on Wednesday approved a plan to buy Irish pharmaceuticals firm Shire in a deal worth around $60 billion, the biggest foreign takeover ever by a Japanese firm. A group of rebel investors, including members of the founding family, tried to thwart the deal but…
Shareholders at Japanese drug giant Takeda on Wednesday approved a plan to buy Irish pharmaceuticals firm Shire in a deal worth around $60 billion, the biggest foreign takeover ever by a Japanese firm.
A group of rebel investors, including members of the founding family, tried to thwart the deal but were outvoted at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting held in the western city of Osaka where the company has its headquarters.
The scheme was “approved as originally proposed”, said a statement from Takeda, adding it should come into effect in early January — pending approval from Shire shareholders, who are to vote on the merger plan later Wednesday in Dublin.
The deal, which will create one of the world’s top 10 drug companies, caps a lengthy courtship by Takeda of its larger rival as it seeks to expand overseas.
